State Sen. Casey Cagle, a Republican candidate for lieutenant governor, addresses members of the Georgia Press Association during a forum Thursday in Savannah. His opponent, Ralph Reed, sits in the background.

For Republican lieutenant governor candidates Thursday, the forum boiled down to state government experience versus name recognition and previous political play.

"I know how to get things done," said Ralph Reed, a former Washington, D.C., lobbyist and executive director of the Christian Coalition. "I'll be an impact player."

But State Sen. Casey Cagle emphasized his more than 10 years in the senate.

"I've led and I've delivered on issues that are important to Georgia families," he said. "You are looking at an individual who is experienced in state government."

Both spoke at a forum before the Georgia Press Association, which is holding its annual convention at the Westin Savannah Harbor.

Few fireworks erupted between the two as they touched on open government, same-sex marriage, education, working with the Democrats and the power of the lieutenant governor's office. They never addressed each other and the two just fielded questions from the audience.

Here are some highlights:

On same-sex marriage:

Gov. Sonny Perdue has said he will call a special session of the legislature if the Georgia Supreme Court decides a 2004 referendum on a constitutional ban on same-sex marriage was illegal.

Cagle: "I think it is the right public policy to make it a constitutional amendment. I would continue to support it."

Reed: "I absolutely support a special session for the reasons why I supported the original amendment because I believe marriage should be defined the way it's been defined since the dawn of civilization as a sacred union between a man and a woman."

On state money for local school districts and the budget:

Reed: "What I proposed is that we ... put state government on a diet and we make sure we have the education trust fund to provide for education ... . It will also make sure that when the economy is surging, as it did during the dot-com run-up in the '90s and as it is doing now, that the politicians don't spend all the money."

Cagle: "There is no one in this race that truly understands the state budget like myself.

Georgia does not have a revenue problem. Georgia has a spending problem. When a individual in Georgia has to work five months out of the year to pay their taxes and then try to live on what's left over we're over-taxed. We need to create more efficiencies."

On open government and a failed bill to hide economic development deals from the public:

Reed: "In general I'm a big believer in the sunshine laws, open meetings laws and transparency. I think it's the people's government and I think they have a right to know.

There are legitimate concerns about the ability to be competitive with other states when trying to bring people to our state. But I looked into this ... and my view is that there are ways for us to remain competitive. You can set up intermediary negotiators, like for example what Disney did when they were looking at a theme park in Virginia. Nobody knew Disney was coming until they announced they were coming. (The deal eventually died) And they did that under existing sunshine laws."

Cagle: "I didn't support (the failed bill) and would not support it. The reason is I do believe in open government. I believe that we need to be able negotiate through the process through the recruiting period. But I think once public dollars are being (spent) on a particular project, then we need to allow that to become open records."